Every time an animal species disappears, it takes with it an irretrievable genetic legacy and a twig breaks off the tree of evolution. Preventing these species from falling into oblivion has been the seed of a wonderful project that combines art and environment, what we like the most in ‘El Asombrario’. When we are asked about extinct animals, the first that come to mind are dinosaurs. But what about during our lifetime, which animals have disappeared? In 2011, Amaya Oyon and Sergio Navarro they began to think about which animals of our century we knew had become extinct and that was the germ of Artimalia. Artimalia «Drawing species so they are not erased»
What began as a very simple website, is today a vital project in which more than 30 people have participated, including illustrators, graphic designers, scientific cartoonists, programmers, computer scientists, biologists, zoologists, journalists… All have altruistically dedicated their time and know on vacations and weekends to scientific and artistic dissemination. “It is a voluntary, non-profit, independent, multidisciplinary project,” Amaya explains to The Amazing.
“Drawing species so they don’t get erased” is Artimalia’s motto and its logo, a whale that looks to the past with a fuse, which represents the little time that some animals have left.
They launched the web with 36 extinct animals since 1800 and today there are already more than 80 species and subspecies, with the Hutía de las Islas del Cine – a species of Caribbean rodent that is believed to have disappeared for more than 60 years – as the last entry. Classified chronologically by centuries, you can also search by country or cause of extinction. And these causes will not surprise us, because they have been the same for centuries: loss of habitat, poaching, toxic agents, trade in exotic species, climate change, pollution, loss of food sources or introduced diseases, among others. .
Each species has a black and white illustration and a text that tells the story of its disappearance and the importance of that species for its ecosystem. Every animal has a story behind it, and in Artimalia they summarize it like this: “We can’t resurrect animals with a pencil, but we can draw them and tell you the story of their life and extinction.”
Carolina parrot. Drawing by Amaya Oyón for Artimalia.
Among the stories that have impacted them the most, Amaya tells us that of Carolina’s parrot (1918 Carolina Parakeet | Artimalia) , which was the only parrot native to North America. In 1918 he died Inca, the last specimen, in a cage at the Cincinnati Zoo; the cause of their disappearance is that the farmers believed that the parrots were eating their crops and they annihilated them by hunting them, when in fact they were only eating a plant that was harmful to the crops and, when the parrot disappeared, they had to resort to herbicides.
In the blog they have created the irreversible, which consists of “celebrating the anniversary of the last specimen of a species”. And they add: “We call on illustrators to express themselves with freedom of technique, and with a powerful image and a short message, to attract attention and to pique your curiosity and enter the blog to read more”, explains Sergio.
In addition, they have included in a more optimistic tone the rediscovered species, ‘the lazarus species’. In the blog, which is now 12 years old, they also include short stories about a species, collaborations with painting academies and with children.
FICMEC Awards
For all this, he Canary Islands Environmental Film Festival (FICMEC) has awarded the Artistic Outbreak Award to Artimalia in its latest edition: “for offering information on extinct animals, bringing it together in an original and creative format where it is possible to inform, disseminate and stimulate collective awareness of the loss of biodiversity”.
In addition, this year the Festival, held last month, awarded the Brote Award for Best Fiction Feature Film to The daughter of all rages, a film by Laura Baumeister, which narrates the difficulties of a mother and her daughter to survive in Nicaragua and make a poor living from what they extract from the garbage and their work in a recycling factory.
The Brote Award for Best Documentary Feature Film this year went to Waters of Pastaza, by Inês T. Alves, who narrates life in the Amazon jungle from the point of view of children.
The jury also awarded a Special Mention to the documentary feature film A Golden Life, by Boubacar Sangaré, which recounts the lives of workers in a gold mine in Africa, and which also won the audience award.
The Brote Award for Best Fiction and Animation Short Film went to Island, by Michael Faust, which reflects the evolution of life on an island when it is conquered by consumerism.
And the Brote Award for Best Documentary Short Film went to Goodbye Pastor, by Julen Zubiete, which tells the story of José, one of the last shepherds on Mount Gorbea, in the Basque Country.
COMMITTED TO THE ENVIRONMENT, MAKES ‘EL ASOMBRARIO’ SUSTAINABLE.
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Maria Garcia de la Fuente
I have been writing about the environment and science for 20 years on teletypes, print and online, and I continue to be surprised and learn from this and other worlds. I like to tell what our planet is like and what we are doing with it. I tweet at @mariagfuente
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2023-07-13 06:08:36
#art #recovering #extinct #species #drawing
